Lesson 2

COOKING

Aim
Explain alternative cooking processes, in order to make appropriate decisions about the
cooking of different foods.

The Nutritive Value in Cooking and Processing

The nutritive value of food depends not only upon what and how much is consumed, but
also, how it is prepared. Also, given that food is unlikely to be eaten unless it is appetising,
its preparation is very important to maintaining good nutrition, as is its content.

Cooking involves the application of heat, using moist or dry methods, and may in the
process:

1. Increase palatability and appearance of food by:

enhancing and conserving natural flavours
blending flavours (eg. in cakes, casseroles etc).
producing the most suitable colour, form and texture.

2. Improve digestibility (eg. tough meat should be more tender and easier to chew after
cooking).

3. Add variety to the diet, and so encourage foods to be eaten.

4. Improve the safety of food by destroying pathogenic microorganisms.

5. Bring about changes in the nutrient value of food, for example:

Some fat is absorbed when foods are fried, increasing their energy value
In grilling, some fat may be lost
Nutrients may be lost by chemical breakdown, or by being leached into cooking
waters.

Cooking may therefore affect the nutrient value of food, either beneficially or negatively.

COOKING AND DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD

Meat
Humans could digest most foods of animal origin raw, but raw meats are particularly
unpalatable. Cooking makes them easier to chew, so that the digestive juices gain more
rapid access to protein. At the same time, particularly with meat, an appetising aroma
develops.

Meat is important in the diet for its good quality protein, iron and B group vitamins. When
the muscle tissue is heated, protein coagulates and is denatured, but only at very high
temperatures will it be destroyed. Should carbohydrates be present, an additional loss of
nutritive value in the food occurs at high temperatures, due to non-enzymic browning.
Some loss of the amino acid, lysine occurs in this way during the roasting of meat, but the
amount is small.
Non-enzymic browning also accounts for the development of flavour, colour and aroma.
The protein of connective tissue, collagen, is not denatured on heating, but moist cooking
methods softens and converts collagen to gelatine.

During the cooking of meat, shrinkage occurs, causing extrusion of meat juices. These
form the 'drip' during the roasting of meat, and if this is not used in making gravy,
extractives, iron and thiamine may be lost. During moist methods of cooking, these go into
the cooking liquor, and as the meat is generally eaten with the liquor of stews, casseroles
etc., there is no loss. Fat melts during cooking, and the higher the cooking temperature,
the greater the loss of fat into the roasting tin, or cooking liquor.

The loss of B group vitamins during cooking meat is significant, especially as meat
supplies about 20% of thiamine in the average diet. The loss is proportional to the cooking
temperature, and about 30-60% may be lost during roasting.

The Structure of Meat

Cuts of meat are made up mostly of muscle, but it does include some connective and fatty
tissues as well as bone and skin. Connective tissue is closely associated with muscle,
and is found in the muscle itself or within the muscle sheath. Cooking can break down the
white connective tissue (collagen), but the yellow elastic tissue (elastin) found in ligaments
and tendons is not affected by heat.

Fat is an important component of meat as it improves the tenderness, moisture content or

juiciness, and flavour of the meat. Fat is also a source of Vitamins A, D, E and K, and
prevents meat from becoming dry.

Meat Quality
Meat quality is a broad term that can be broken down into three factors: appearance,
palatability (tenderness, juiciness and flavour), and nutritive value. Other factors that
contribute to palatability are breed, sex, age of the animal, finish and cooking.

Tenderness
Collagen and elastin increase in content with age and work and result in tougher cuts.
Muscle bundle size also increases with age up to four years and causes coarseness of
meat. In beef cattle, tenderness is more than 60% heritable (passes on from parent to
offspring) and this may be associated with the family trait of docility.

Rigor mortis becomes evident six hours after death and reaches a maximum stiffness by
24 hours. Anaerobic breakdown of muscle glycogen causes contraction of the muscle
fibres and lactic acid is produced. Then the actin and myosin filaments fuse. Hanging the
carcass during the process of rigor mortis stretches the muscles, preventing the
toughening of meat by shrinkage. Immediate freezing does not prevent rigor mortis - it
merely delays it till the carcass is thawed.

Excitement and stress affect tenderness by depleting the animal's glycogen content. To
ensure animals are in a state of physiological balance at slaughter, they should be fed and
watered as usual up to 12 hours before slaughter to restore the level of muscle glycogen.

Meat is tenderised by the natural process of autolysis (self digestion), due to certain
enzymes present in the muscles. (Meat tenderisers are preparations of these enzymes).
The muscle proteins become denatured and the bonds binding the molecules together are
broken down. These actions are favoured by a slightly acidic pH and by elevated
temperatures. Temperatures above 5 degrees centigrade permit the multiplication of ever-
present bacteria. Aging of carcasses up to 40 days increases tenderness, but longer
periods have an undesirable effect on palatability.

Juiciness/Moisture
This depends on the water-holding capacity and the amount of fat embedded in the meat.
Marbled meats are favoured (where the fat runs in seams through the muscle tissue) over
cuts where there is a layer of fat at the edge, which is generally bulkier and doesnt impart
as good a flavour.

Flavour
Certain chemicals (amino acids and fatty acids) impart the characteristic flavour to meat.
Age and muscle activity improve flavour due to the larger amounts of derivatives and
aromatics (myo-globin and connective tissue). Meat with a low pH and with muscle
glycogen has better flavour. Autolysis also improves flavour. Heating releases flavour
but, in excess, can drive away or destroy substances.

Cuts and Joints of Meat

Once the animal has been slaughtered, skinned, and the head, hooves and offal have
been removed, what is left is called the carcass. This is halved, quartered and sold to the
butcher who cuts it up into smaller joints and sells it to the public.

Fish
The changes that occur during cooking of fish are similar to those in meat. Shrinkage is
less, and fish is not an important source of thiamine in the diet. Fatty fish contain vitamins
A and D in the fat; these are heat stable, but may be lost in any fat lost during the cooking
process.

Milk
When meat is heated, the protein lactalbumin coagulates and, with the fat of the milk,
forms a "skin". If this skin is removed, the nutritive value of the milk is reduced. The main
process of coagulation occurs when milk goes sour, or when acidified milk is treated with
rennet as in cheese making.

Plant Foods
A tough wall of cellulose, which is little disrupted by chewing, surrounds most plant cells.
Digestive juice will not penetrate this cellulose wall. Cellulose is softened by moist
methods of cooking, enabling digestive juices to penetrate the cell wall and reach the cell
contents. When starch granules are heated in the presence of water, water passes
through the walls of the granules causing swelling. The cell walls surrounding the starch
granules are softened, and the starch gelatinised. In this form the starch is easier to digest.

Fruits and green vegetables may be eaten raw in limited amounts, but cereals, roots and
pulses (legume seeds) containing a greater amount of starch are not easily digested
unless cooked. Fruits and vegetables are of importance in the diet because of their
mineral element and vitamin content. A great deal of these, however, may be lost, due to
their being heat liable, water soluble, or sensitive to alkaline media. Losses of thiamine
and vitamin C in particular, occur these ways. Wastage of the outer darker green leaves of
vegetables can also cause losses of carotene and vitamin C in the diet.
Apart from these losses of nutrients during the preparation and cooking of vegetables,
cooking may result in the loss of colour, especially in green vegetables. The rate at which
colour change takes place depends on the pH, cooking temperature and cooking time.
Sodium bicarbonate added to water increases the pH and improves the colour, but has a
detrimental affect on thiamine and vitamin C, and is not recommended.

Many cereal grains, particularly wheat in the U.K., are reduced to flour before being eaten,
and in the milling process the percentage of flour produced from a given weight of grain
can vary. This percentage is known as the extraction rate, and the higher the extraction
rate, the fewer materials have been removed from the original grain.

When white flour is produced, the bran (husks), germ (reproductive element - good source
of fibre) and scutellum (outer shell) of the grain are removed. The bran contains a high
proportion of B group vitamins and about 50% of the mineral elements (calcium and iron
mainly) of the whole grain. The germ is rich in fat, protein, B group vitamins, vitamin E and
iron. The scutellum is extremely rich in thiamine.

Many countries enforce the addition of nutrients to milled products to ensure nutritional
value. For instance, when wheat is milled to produce white flour in the U.K., a proportion of
nutrients are lost as calculated below:

English Flour

Extraction Rate 100% 70%

Protein gm/100 gm 9.10 8.10
Calcium mg/100 gm 36 19
Iron mg/100 gm 3.10 1.40
Vitamin B1 ma/100 gm 0.294 0.087

In order to compensate for these losses, it is obligatory for millers to add certain nutrients
to all flours of 100% extraction rate, except wholemeal flour. Thus in the U.K. all flours
except wholemeal are fortified with iron, thiamine and niacin so that 100 gm of flour will
contain no less than:

Iron 1.65 mg per 100 gm

Vitamin B1 0.24 mg per 100 gm
Niacin 1.60 mg per 100 gm

Wholemeal flours contain no more than the specified minimum quantities.

In addition to the above nutrients, calcium carbonate is added to all flours except
wholemeal, at the rate of 14 oz per 240 lb sack.

When cereal products (eg bread) are baked, thiamine is the nutrient most affected
because it is heat sensitive and destroyed by alkalis. The amount lost will depend on the
cooking time, final temperature of the cooked food, and whether or not baking powder has
been used.
During the manufacture of breakfast cereals, the required heat destroys a great deal of
thiamine, and many breakfast cereals are now fortified with thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
Some products also have protein, iron, vitamin D and/or sugar added to them.

THE EFFECT OF SPECIFIC COOKING METHODS ON NUTRIENTS

Some vitamins are more stable (less affected by cooking and processing) than others.
Water soluble vitamins (B-group and C) are more unstable than fat soluble vitamins (K,
A, D and E) during food processing and storage.

The most unstable vitamins include:

Folate (Vitamin B9)

Thiamine (Vitamin B1)
Ascorbate (Vitamin C).

More stable vitamins include:

Niacin (vitamin B3)

Vitamin K
Vitamin D
Biotin (vitamin B7)
Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5).

Many things can affect a food's nutrient content, from the growing, harvesting, storing
and preparing of food. Here we will look at cooking and preparation.

Baking
Baking is a commonly used cooking technique that applies dry heat to a food, along with
an air flow (conduction). It avoids the problems of nutrient loss due to leeching, and is
effective at breaking down starches. However, heat labile nutrients will be destroyed
and the long cooking time will negatively effect nutrient value. Baked goods loose
moisture and tend to be dry, fats will leech out as well. Loss of these fluids will invariably
result in some loss of both water soluble and fat soluble vitamins. The pH of the food
may be altered by acidic cooking ingredients, or in cakes, by baking soda which is
alkaline.

Blanching
Blanching is the plunging of a food item into boiling water for a very short time period,
before removing it and transferring it to cold or icy water. The cold water stops the
cooking process. Blanching can remove the bitter taste from some vegetables and can
also enhance their colour, making them more appealing. The application of very high
heat will kill many microorganisms and will also soften the tough fibres in vegetables.

The water soluble vitamins, including Vitamin C and B-complex vitamins, are heat
sensitive and easily destroyed by blanching so care must be taken not to blanch foods
for too long and to quickly refresh foods in cold water to prevent heat labile nutrients
from being destroyed.
Braising
A method of cooking that is similar to baking, however, a liquid is placed beneath the
food, or the food placed in a liquid. The liquid, at high temperatures, will convert to
steam and so the food will be partially baked and partially steamed. It is used primarily
in the preparation of meat dishes, where the tough collagen fibres require high heat and
time to become softened and palatable. This of course impacts on the level of heat
labile nutrients in the food, and leeching may also be a problem in the early stages of
cooking. High temperatures will seal foods quickly, helping to trap juices and the
nutrients within them to some extent. Other terms for braising include stewing or pot-
roasting. Casserole and stews are braised dishes. When the meat is kept in the fluid, or
the fluid returned to the meat nutrient losses will be lessened. Calcium and other
essential trace minerals including magnesium, zinc and iron are unaffected by braising.

Grilling
Grilling, like baking, is a dry cooking method, the difference being that grilling is the
direct application of heat to the food as opposed to hot air. Food is generally cooked
very quickly, which is good for limiting nutrient degradation, but at very high heat, which
causes loss of the heat labile nutrients. Barbecuing, cooking over hot coals or charcoals
are all consider variations of grilling. With larger cuts of meat, cooking time is
lengthened, resulting in additional nutrient loss. However, grilling tends to impart a
pleasing flavour to foods, in some cases partially smoking them. Fat tends to drain away
from foods, reducing calorie content as well as fat soluble vitamin content.

Poaching and Boiling

Poaching, as opposed to boiling, is the gentle heating of a food in water. Typically, an
acid is also added to the water (wine, vinegar, citrus juice) and this can impact on
acid/pH sensitive vitamins such as vitamin K. Leeching is of course a major source of
nutrient loss, but as the heat is lower, B group vitamins should remain intact as the
temperature is below 100C. Mineral content is not dramatically altered with poaching or
boiling but is more apparent than with other cooking methods.

Pressure Cooking
Uses pressure to increase the temperature and decrease cooking time. For example, at
100C in normal pressure, water boils, but in a standard pressure cooking, water will not
boil until it reaches closer to 125C. The advantages of pressure cooking are that
cooking time is reduced, leeching is reduced as fluids remain in the pot, food remains
hydrated as steam does not all escape. However, the higher temperatures will affect
heat labile nutrients.

Roasting
Like baking this is the application of conducted dry heat to a food. Typically, when
referring to a roasted dish, it is meat that is cooked or vegetables, while baking infers the
cooking of a grain or flour based product such as bread or cake. The methods are
essentially the same, although for some people, roasting may infer the use of much
higher temperatures than baking. Roasted foods are generally basted with a fatty
substance (lard, butter, oil, ghee etc) to prevent leeching of juices. However, juices are
lost as with baking and heat labile nutrients are of course destroyed in large amounts.
Minerals remain intact with roasting.
Sauting
May also be referred to as shallow frying. Foods are cooked rapidly in a shallow pan
coated with a layer of fat (butter, oil, ghee or a combination). The rapid cooking and high
temperature seals in nutrients, but heat labile vitamins will still begin to degrade.
Technically, to saut foods, you must cook them until they jump about in the pan, and
generally they foods are tossed in the pan as well. Stir frying is a similar cooking
method in Asian cuisine as opposed to European, and also cooks food very rapidly.
Mineral content is not affected by sauting.

Steaming
Steaming is an increasingly popular method of cooking because it requires no addition of
fats or oils. Flavour is generally better retained as well as colour and leeching is not a
concern. When steaming time is short, palatability can be improved without too much
loss of B group vitamins and Vitamin C. Steaming for protein foods, such as fish, meat
and poultry is a good way to limit nutrient loss caused by the excessive cooking time
required for roasting and the very high temperatures of grilling, baking, roasting and
other methods. (Water boils at 100C, as opposed to standard baking temperatures of
180-220C). Steaming is also good for grains, as they contain niacin which is heat stable
but lost to cooking water when grains are boiled.

FOOD PREPERATION AND COOKING TIPS

Preparation of Vegetables
Most vegetables are peeled or trimmed before cooking to remove the tough skin or outer
leaves. However, the bulk of nutrients, tend to lie in the skin or close to the skin surface
of most vegetables. Overzealous trimming can mean a huge reduction in a vegetable's
nutrient value. Protein content may be reduced by around 10%, and even larger loss of
fibre can also occur. Vitamin C and folate losses can be up to 25%. Small amounts of
trace minerals are also lost.

When vegetables are then boiled, nutrient loss can be very high, not only for the very
fragile vitamin C (up to 90% can be lost) but also calcium, fibre, folate (up to 50% loss)
as well as trace minerals (10-20% losses for some). In tomatoes, peeling and then
boiling can result in complete loss of folate and vitamin C.

Losing Nutrients Through Cooking

Some vitamins dissolve (solubilise) in water, so you lose your vitamins to the cooking
water if you prefer to boil your vegetables. Alternative cooking methods such as
grilling, roasting, steaming, stir-frying or microwaving generally preserve a greater
amount of vitamins and other nutrients. Keeping the temperature of the food below 100C
will help in retaining B group vitamins.

The Benefits of Cooking Food

It would be inaccurate to say that cooking food always lessens the nutrient value.
Cooking can be advantageous in many ways, including:

Making the food tastier

Breaking down parts of vegetables that would otherwise be indigestible
Destroying bacteria or other harmful micro-organisms
Making phytochemicals more available; for instance, phytochemicals are more
available in cooked tomatoes than in raw tomatoes
 Breaking down toxins that would otherwise make a food toxic
Removing environmental pollutants.

Preserving the Nutrient Value of Foods

Some suggestions to retain the maximum nutrition in the foods you cook include:

Store foods properly, such as keeping cold foods cold and sealing foods in airtight
containers.
Keep vegetables in the crisper section of the refrigerator.
Try washing or scrubbing vegetables rather than peeling them.
Use the outer leaves of vegetables like cabbage or lettuce unless they are wilted or
unpalatable.
Microwave, steam, roast or grill vegetables rather than boiling them.
If you boil your vegetables, save the nutrient-laden water for soup stock.
Use fresh ingredients whenever possible.
Cook foods quickly.

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

In general the content of minerals in a food is not significantly reduced by most cooking
methods, although they may leech in small quantity into cooking fluids. Fat content can
be reduced when cooking temperatures cause it to become liquid and flow out of foods,
however this requires adequate drainage away from the food to avoid frying.
Carbohydrates may be leeched into cooking fluids or begin to breakdown at higher
temperatures. Complex proteins will denature (change their configuration and perhaps
begin to break down into simpler units) with heat and long cooking times.

Some vitamins are heat sensitive and will be destroyed by cooking. Others are affected
by exposure to light or air. The following table is a good guide:

Vitamin Leeches Degraded Degraded Heat Additional

into by air? by light? sensitive? information
water?
Vitamin A No Slightly Slightly Slightly
Vitamin B1 Yes No Unclear <100C No
(Thiamine) >100C Yes
Vitamin B2 Slightly No If in liquids No Loss is
(Riboflavin) significant by
leeching if
cooking time
is long or
cooking
solution/food
is alkaline
Vitamin B3 Yes No No No Cooking can
(Niacin) improve
availability of
niacin
Vitamin B6 Yes Unclear Yes Yes, content Can be
(Pyridoxine) remains the destroyed by
same, but microwaving,
available B6 more stable
is reduced in plant
foods than
animal
Vitamin B12 Yes Unclear Yes No Loss occurs
(Cobalamin) if cooked in
copper pots
or acids
Vitamin B9 Yes Unclear Slightly Only at very Degrades
(Folate) high with storage
temperatures
Vitamin C Slightly Yes Yes Yes Affected by
(Ascorbate) alkalinity and
long cooking
time, one of
the most
fragile
vitamins
Vitamin D No No No No Improves
availability of
calcium
Vitamin E No Yes will Yes No Loss occurs
make foods if cooked in
go rancid copper
pots/pans or
for long
periods or if
thawed from
frozen
Vitamin K No No Yes No Very
sensitive to
extremes of
pH

As a general rule, water soluble vitamins (B-group, C) will leech into cooking water and
are less heat stable than their fat soluble counterparts (A, D, E, K). Degradation by air,
or light is generally a very slow process and should not be a concern when preparing
foods for cooking but is more of a problem when storing foods.

The longer you cook a food the more you will degrade the nutrients in it. Calorie content
of food is not altered by cooking, unless you are draining liquid fats, or skimming solid
fats during cooking. Proteins will be degraded by extremes of pH and temperature, but
component amino acids should still be available and will be more easily digestible than a
complex protein.

While the nutrient content of a food may remain relatively unchanged during cooking, the
availability may be changed.
Availability refers to the proportion of a nutrient that is in a form that is able to be
digested. Availability may be reduced if a nutrient is bound up with some indigestible
food or is enzymatically degraded, or if it is converted into another indigestible form
during cooking. Heat can speed chemical reactions and promote the formation of new
chemical compounds, or the dissociation of others. The resulting chemicals may mix
with others forming completely new compounds. An example is mercury, which in itself
is not a concern, but can, in fish be converted to methyl mercury which can cause health
problems.

While cooking can degrade nutrient value of foods, it also destroys disease causing
micro-organisms, enhances the availability and digestibility of some nutrients and can
destroy, at least partially, toxins and chemicals that plants and animals may have been
exposed to prior to consumption. Nutrient loss can be alleviated by selecting
appropriate cooking methods, or re-using cooking water, or reducing the amount of time
a food is cooked, particularly vegetables.

The processing of food to preserve it should retain, as far as possible, the original
characteristics of the food, and minimise any negative affects on the nutrients. Reasons
for preserving foods are obvious, and the process is essential. It would be impossible for
everyone to eat only fresh foods.
Food preservation is the process of "inhibiting, retarding or arresting growth of micro-
organisms in food".

The main methods of food preservation are by:

Heat Treatment (eg. canning, pasteurisation).

Freezing
Dehydration
The use of chemicals.

In many of the methods of food preservation, especially with fruits and vegetables, food
must be gathered under controlled conditions, and processed quickly to optimise the
preservation effect. Any losses in nutrients which occur during preservation should be set
against losses which occur at all stages of the freshly cooked article.

Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are little affected by preservation, but some mineral
elements and vitamins which are water soluble can be lost. Some vitamins which are over
sensitive to heat can be destroyed.

Vegetables are often scalded or "blanched" before being canned, frozen or dehydrated.
This process improves colour of the vegetable and inactivates oxidative enzymes, in
particular ascorbic acid oxidase. About 20% of vitamin C loss from fruits and vegetables
may due to washing and blanching. The amount of loss depends on the amount of water,
and the surface area, more than on the time taken. Of the B group of vitamins, thiamine
suffers most because as well as being water soluble it is also very heat sensitive. Sodium
sulphite is often added to water used for blanching, and this improves vitamin C retention,
but also destroys thiamine. Although a large percentage of vitamin C is lost, blanching
overall conserves vitamin C by reducing the final cooking time and inactivating the
oxidative enzyme.
The processing of food to preserve it should retain, as far as possible, the original
characteristics of the food, and minimise any negative effects on the nutrients. Reasons
for preserving foods are obvious, and the process is essential. It would be impossible for
everyone to eat only fresh foods.

Food preservation is the process of "inhibiting, retarding or arresting growth of micro

organisms in food, or of enzymatic action on food, in order to prolong the foods shelf-life".

Sodium sulphite is often added to water used for blanching, and this improves vitamin C
retention, but also destroys thiamine. Although a large percentage of vitamin C is lost,
blanching overall conserves vitamin C by reducing the final cooking time and inactivating
the oxidative enzyme.

CANNING AND PASTEURISATION

Almost any food may be canned. The food is sealed in the can which is heated to a
temperature at which harmful micro organisms are destroyed. More thiamine is probably
lost during the processing of meat than during normal cooking.

Vitamins A & D are well retained in fatty fish; bones which are softened when eaten, are a
source of calcium; vitamins A and B and carotene are fat soluble so there is no loss in wet
processing. In the case of fruits and vegetables, if any liquid in the can is used (eg. fruit
syrup) there will be less vitamin C lost than if the liquid were thrown away. The acidity of
fruits improves vitamin C retention.

In the sealed can there is little destruction of vitamin C by oxidation during the heating
process, but there is some during storage, and the higher the storage temperature, the
greater the loss. This is due to a small amount of oxygen left at the top of the can. Further
destruction of thiamine may occur during storage.

Apart from the losses of thiamine and vitamin C mentioned, canned foods are of good
nutritive value. In the case of fruits and vegetables, they may be better than the fresh
foods because they are often processed within a few hours of being picked, and vitamin C
losses which occur during transport and marketing (caused by storage, wilting, crushing
etc), are minimised.

Pasteurisation is a milder form of heat treatment than canning, and is mainly applied to
milk. It causes some losses of vitamins B and C, but milk is not an important source of
these vitamins in the diet. Meats for some large catering packs are sometimes
pasteurised instead of the higher heat treatment to prevent the breaking up of the meat.
HOMOGENISATION AND PASTEURISATION OF MILK
In most countries milk undergoes two processes prior to consumption. It is first
homogenised and then pasteurised. Homogenisation breaks up the fat globules and
makes an even suspension of fat throughout the milk. It stops a cream (fat) layer
separating away from the rest of the milk. Pasteurisation is a heat treatment that sterilises
the milk. Nutrient loss with pasteurisation is extremely small. However, by skimming milk,
you not only remove fats, you also remove the fat soluble vitamins in milk. In many cases,
milks are enriched with additional calcium and fat-soluble vitamins are supplied elsewhere
in the diet.

Coagulation is the separation of the two forms of milk protein due to pH changes that
occur as milk goes sour. Milk sours because once opened, bacteria colonise it. With
enough time they will digest the milk sugar, lactose, creating lactic acid. This acidifies the
milk, causing the pH to decrease. At pH of 4.6 the casein protein, which is about 80% of
the total milk protein becomes solid, while the remaining whey proteins are liquid. This is
why off milk is lumpy.

Caseins are heat stable and not affected by pasteurisation. Whey proteins are less so, but
retain their nutritive value despite pasteurisation. However, one whey protein, lactalbumin,
can coagulate and form a layer on top of the pasteurised milk, forming with the fats a
"skin". If this skin is removed, the nutritive value of the milk is reduced. This occurs
because of the biochemistry between milk fats and protein, with the proteins encased in
fatty spheres. Coagulation can be enhanced using rennet, and this is the process that is
used for cheese making, where the curds (casein) are separated from the watery whey.
This also explains why cheeses are higher in fat than milk.

FREEZING
In freezing, good quality food is only produced if the freezing is carried out quickly. In slow
freezing larger ice crystals form in the intracellular spaces and distorting and bursting the
cells. This allows the nutrients within them to leech out and destroys the structure of the
food, which can make it mushy. When such food is thawed, the leeched nutrients are no
longer encased by the cells and can flow away with the melting ice. Loss of nutrients
occurs not so much in the actual freezing process as in the initial preparation (washing
and blanching etc) and in the thawing of most foods.

During storage of the frozen foods at low temperatures there is little loss in nutritive value.
However when frozen foods are thawed there is some drip or loss of liquid which will
contain water soluble nutrients from the food. Plant foods are more likely to drip than
animal foods. Soft fruits suffer extensive drip with the consequent loss of vitamin C on
thawing if the drip is not used. They also tend to go mushy, again because of the collapse
of cell walls.

Loss of nutrients from fruits may be avoided if the liquid, usually syrup, is eaten with the
fruit. It is better however, to purchase fruits in natural juices, rather than the calorie laden
syrup and to use those juices. With vegetables it is recommended that they should be
cooked from the frozen state. When meat is thawed there is considerable loss of nutrients
including protein and thiamine. This may be avoided by using the drip in gravy.
DEHYDRATION
Dried fruits have been produced for many years by drying in the sun, but considerable loss
of vitamin A activity, and vitamin C, occur as a result of oxidation hastened by sunlight.
More modern methods of dehydration are now available. In most, the atmosphere above
the foods contains a much lower concentration of oxygen than in the older methods and
this inhibits the oxidative processes. Accelerated freeze drying (AFD) is now used and is
particularly suitable for heat sensitive foods. The loss of heat sensitive nutrients is
reduced.

Dehydrated foods containing fats (eg. whole milk) are liable to go rancid after a period of
time, and this results in the oxidation of vitamin A. Much of the dehydrated milks are made
from skimmed milk where the fat and fat soluble vitamins have been removed. Certain
dried milks are therefore fortified with vitamins A and D.

The storage life of dehydrated foods is much increased, and the loss of vitamins A and C
decreased in the absence of oxygen. Containers should be completely filled, keeping the
amount of oxygen to a minimum, and in some cases air is replaced by nitrogen.